Everywhere you look, organizations are shifting their software acquisition preferences and policies away from traditional, on-premises legacy applications to a new generation of on-demand SaaS solutions. Although I was an early advocate of SaaS, I’m becoming concerned that many leading SaaS vendors and their enterprise customers are taking actions that significantly compromise the fundamental value of SaaS. As the old adage goes, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.”

Verizon last week completed its US$4.5 billion acquisition of Yahoo’s operating business assets, merging it with its existing AOL business to create Oath. The new subsidiary encompasses more than 50 media and technology brands — including HuffPost; Yahoo Sports, Finance and Mail; AOL.com; Makers; Tumblr; TechCrunch; Flickr; and Build Studios. Oath is organized around content: news, sports, finance, entertainment and lifestyle. Oath’s CEO is Tim Armstrong, who was CEO of AOL prior to the merge.

A major federal acquisition opportunity with a potential contract value of $50 billion for information technology vendors is back on track. The General Services Administration recently resumed processing vendor applications after a legal challenge to the contract was resolved in its favor. As a result, the GSA this fall will reveal the names of approximately 60 vendors who will be eligible to participate in the Alliant 2 IT contract vehicle. The program is notable not only for the money involved, but also for a major contracting change.

Verizon and Yahoo on Tuesday announced new terms for the acquisition deal they inked last summer. Verizon will pay $350 million less than the original contract price, which places the new value of the deal at $4.48 billion. Yahoo will be responsible for 50 percent of any breach-related cash liabilities incurred as a result of non-SEC government investigations and third-party litigation, under the new agreement. Yahoo will be fully responsible for any liabilities resulting from shareholder lawsuits and SEC investigations. The acquisition still “makes strategic sense,” said Verizon EVP Marni Waldon.

Oracle has announced the acquisition of Apiary, a small company that tucks into its product line and will not make much of a splash in the financial pages or in tech circles. Nonetheless, it’s important strategic news. The value of the deal wasn’t publicized — but the dollars likely would get lost in Oracle’s rounding of profit and revenue figures. The reason the buy is so important lies in what Apiary does. It offers a framework and tools for developing APIs that can be used in the development of cloud-based applications and services.

Microsoft last week closed its $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn. LinkedIn will remain a separate company and Jeff Weiner will continue as its CEO, but he now reports to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Integration of the companies’ products is under way. Among many other things, a user’s LinkedIn identity and network will be made available in Microsoft Outlook and the Office suite. “Working across private and public sectors, we can create more opportunity for everyone to participate and share in economic growth,” Nadella said.

Fitbit on Wednesday announced an acquisition deal with smartwatch maker Pebble. The company clearly has been struggling, having laid off 25 percent of its staff earlier this year, when CEO Eric Migicovsky acknowledged that money was tight. “Fitbit is acquiring certain assets of Pebble, including key personnel and intellectual property specific to software and firmware development,” a Fitbit spokesperson said. “The majority of Pebble employees in the software engineering function … will join Fitbit.”

Uber has announced the acquisition of startup Geometric Intelligence, a move designed to increase its presence in the autonomous vehicle technology field. Geometric CEO Gary Marcus will become the chief of Uber’s new artificial intelligence business. He will lead the newly formed Uber AI Labs, which will be dedicated to conducting research into artificial intelligence and machine learning, according to Jeff Holden, the company’s chief product officer. The new AI lab initially will be staffed with the 15 employees from Geometric Intelligence.

Verizon last week indicated that its $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo could be in jeopardy in light of its delay in disclosing a massive 2014 data breach that compromised about 500 million account holders. Verizon may need some additional assurances about the effects of the breach, suggested General Counsel Craig Silliman. “I think we have a reasonable basis to believe right now that the impact is material, and we’re looking to Yahoo to demonstrate to us the full impact. If they believe that it’s not, then they’ll need to show us that.”

The U.S. government plans to initiate an updated contracting vehicle for the acquisition of cybersecurity information technologies for federal agencies this month. The purpose of the program is to make it easier and more efficient for federal agencies to obtain cyberprotection services. Specifically, GSA will include cybertechnology providers on a major listing of approved federal contractors known as “Schedule 70.” The stakes are significant for vendors offering cyber-related capabilities to the federal government.

Intel last week announced the acquisition of startup Nervana, in a bid to enhance the company’s capabilities in artificial intelligence and deep learning. Nervana jumped out of the gate at its 2014 launch with a robust platform for deep learning, a framework called “Nervana Neon,” and the Nervana Engine — a groundbreaking ASIC chip. Nervana’s IP and expertise in accelerating deep learning algorithms will expand Intel’s capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence, according to Diane Bryant, general manager of Intel’s Data Center Group.

Oracle’s acquisition of NetSuite is a clear indication that the rapid adoption of cloud alternatives to traditional on-premises applications is shifting from front-office customer relationship management to back-office enterprise resource planning solutions. Now, the question will be whether Oracle can buy its way into a leadership position in this emerging marketplace. Due to increasing frustration with the cost and complexities of traditional on-premises financial management systems, CFOs have been looking for cloud-based alternatives.

Salesforce on Monday announced it had completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of e-commerce cloud software platform Demandware. The deal “gives Salesforce the e-commerce piece to compete against Oracle, which already has e-commerce capabilities, as well as SAP,” said Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research at Nucleus Research. “It also gives Salesforce a cloud transactional platform for B2C purchases to complement its predominantly B2B sales force automation capabilities.”

Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn for more than $26 billion has created quite a stir — at least in my world. Ellen Levy reported that the deal can boast a number of superlatives if you look at it right: the largest sale of a consumer Internet company in history; the largest sale of an enterprise software/cloud company in history; the third-largest sale of a technology company since 2001; and the largest acquisition ever made by Microsoft. What’s interesting to me is how poorly the social networking industry is doing overall.

Charter Communications is closing on its $67 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The deals make Charter the second-largest home Internet provider and third-largest video provider in the U.S.

Microsoft last week announced the acquisition of Solair, a move to expand its global Internet of Things business. Solair’s IoT customization and deployment solutions, which are built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, have helped a wide range of businesses improve efficiencies and profitability, according to Microsoft. “The integration of Solair’s technology into the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite will continue to enhance our complete IoT offering for the enterprise,” said Sam George, partner director for Azure IoT.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdams last week confirmed that his company was exploring an acquisition of some of Yahoo’s assets, which would be placed under the corporate umbrella of Verizon’s AOL unit. McAdams discussed Verizon’s interest in an interview with Mad Money host Jim Cramer. Giving AOL CEO Tim Armstrong control of some of Yahoo’s assets would be good for investors if a deal could be struck at the right price, McAdams said. Addressing concerns over integrating Yahoo and AOL, McAdams was upbeat.